Wenger rewarded after taking Giroud risk against Everton

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said he handed Olivier Giroud the chance to prove himself against Everton because 'everyone makes mistakes'.

Giroud wasn't on his best form against Monaco during the week and the Gunners suffered a shock loss after what Wenger referred to as suicidal defending.

But the France international looked back to his old self against Everton, scoring a goal to help a very cautious Arsenal take three points and get back into third place in the table.

Wenger said of the striker: "Olivier's great quality is when his back's to the wall - he has the personality and the character to respond. Because I know him better now, that's one of the reasons why I kept him in the team.

"He acknowledged that he missed his game and he will respond because he has the strength to do it.

"It was a great goal. He responded very well and I'm not happy only because he scored a goal but also because of the workrate he put in today from the first to the last minute."

Wenger explained that he never felt tempted to rest Giroud, saying: "Not really because he's an important player in the box with his presence up front, even defensively. The worry for me was him lasting 90 minutes.

"I took him off after 65 so he only played an hour the other night. All these ingredients were important in my decision. When a guy misses [chances in] one game, straight away to take him out [would be harsh] and I thought his presence would be important against Everton."

Meanwhile Giroud thanked Wenger for having faith in his abilities, crediting the manager with helping him get back to his best despite a very disappointing loss mid-week.

"Arsene Wenger gave me the possibility to bounce back," he said. "We wanted to do that together and I think we did well this afternoon. We started on the front foot and pressed them high.

"We will take things step-by-step. We just want to focus on our games, we just need to keep doing what we are doing."